"...!"
The shinobi wearing Amegakure's forehead protector exhibited a shock.
It was a sneak attack. Be it the infamous bounty hunter or not, he was confident of his skill at assassination.
However, here it was, with his blade blocked by another one, the black one held by Akashi, Ryuma.
Beyond the black blade, Akashi's lone eye gleamed frighteningly.
And at this time, nine others were in front of him, about to launch their attacks simultaneously from all angles—
before he abruptly disappeared right in front of their view. The speed at which this happened was far too quick—such that the ten ninjas surrounding Akashi lost him in an instant.
"Huh?!"
"What?!!"
Coming to a stop, they cried in disbelief. Looking at their left and right with pale expressions, they attempted to locate their lone enemy but to no avail.
Something was wrong here.
"...Something isn't right."
Akashi's voice was heard amidst the wind. The leaves rustled and the gloomy forest seemed darker than ever.
"There is no way that Hanzo expected folks like you to match me."
"Formation B!!!"
Gritting his teeth, the shinobi who seemed to be the leader of the group shouted in the middle of the ten. Forming the defensive formation of a round circle, they protected one another's back.
"...I see now."
Akashi suddenly appeared, standing in front of the leader of the ten.
Plop.
The leader's eyes widened as he heard the subtle and dull plopping sound.
Though it was within the rain, he heard it clearly, for it wasn't the water that dripped just now.
Nine bodies around the leader fell, headless. He was the only one left alive.
In this state, Akashi shifted his eye to the right,
"Your purpose was to assess my strength, wasn't it?"
These ninjas whom Akashi defeated were at best, chunin level in terms of strength.
There was no way that Akashi would let ones like these tail him. It meant that someone else was watching, someone whom even Akashi himself couldn't detect with his senses.
"I-I don't know! We just received a mission to subdue you here!!"
"Of course you wouldn't."
And just as the leader shrieked in fear, he found his own head detached from his neck.
"Why would they give confidential information to cannon fodders?"
The head flew before falling on the soft dirt. Rolling across, it left the stain of blood, leaving the metallic scent of it throughout the area.
The blood on Ryuma, mixing with the raindrops, continued to drip down. As its blade was pointed downward and its hilt still held by Akashi, Akashi narrowed his eye as he looked around the woods carefully.
'...If a watcher was planning to get rid of me here,'
Eventually, Akashi concluded upon further collecting his thoughts.
'He, she, or they would've sought an opportunity to assassinate me just before when I fought these ten. Not proceeding with this idea meant that they found such a task impossible and retreated or that their task was to simply stall the time.'
As soon as his thoughts were set, Akashi dashed—back to the house.
He knew that he must hurry.
Above all things, Konan was in danger.
__________
"Huff... huff..."
Hiding behind a wood, Yahiko huffed heavily as he held his kunai firm.
Through the corner of his eyes, he peeked at the back of the wood grimly.
"...How are you doing, Nagato."
"I am... ugh... fine..."
In front of Yahiko, Nagato was painfully holding his stomach. Around the part covered by his palm was the bloodstain—indicating that he was stabbed and was currently wounded.
It was his fault, Yahiko thought. He thought it was just a normal day when he heard from a runner civilian that a foreign ninja caused harm on the outskirts. He, along with Nagato, immediately headed to the supposed area of damage to help and potentially, take care of said ninja.
It turned out to be a trap.
The supposedly injured civilians who greeted them upon their arrival, whose who received many help from Yahiko and Nagato in the past, were bribed by Ame's ninjas.
Within their houses, the ninjas were hiding. Shurikens were thrown, civilians held their ankles to keep them stuck, and ten ninjas launched a surprise attack on them at once.
It was nothing short of chaos before they barely managed to escape—with a gruesome injury on Nagato, that is.
"...Thankfully, the bleeding stopped."
Yahiko spoke hopefully,
"I think we managed to escape their chase, so let's recuperate first."
Trying to open up his face from a frown, Nagato managed to nod. Yahiko, after checking their surroundings once more, came to Nagato and draped the latter's arm around his shoulder, such that he was carrying Nagato's weight.
"...Damn it,"
Yahiko couldn't help but curse, however.
The 'runner civilian' who informed them probably wasn't a civilian in the first place.
He knew very well that this meant... their pattern was read. Their base was detected. It meant that there was a high chance that it wasn't safe. They can't return.
'What should I do here?'
When in tough times when he couldn't think properly, here Yahiko was, looking for Akashi again.
'Hah, in the end...'
"It's going to be okay, Nagato. It's..."
Yahiko whispered over and over as they walked, thinking over how the civilians betrayed them.
"...Everything will be fine."
__________
In the middle of the woods, there was a small house. Well-camouflaged and located far away from the hub of Ame, there was no doubt that locating this place wouldn't be an easy task.
Crouching at a tree branch some distance away from such a house was Hanzo of the Salamander himself, keenly observing said building.
And there were two ninjas by his left and right, with their eyes closed and seals attached to their foreheads.
At the next moment, their seals turned into ashes and disappeared. As they opened their eyes, Hanzo spoke,
"Report."
"The team didn't manage to dispose of the orange-haired one and red-haired one with unique eyes. The red-haired one did receive a performance-lowering injury, however."
The one on the left immediately voiced. Hanzo asked,
"As for their whereabouts?"
"They were last seen running away toward east. The team is still searching, but I doubt that they will be discovered anytime soon—they know more about the area than the team."
"...How useless. It was an ambush that took a while to set up, and they still failed?"
Moving his eyes to the one on the right, Hanzo gestured for him to speak.
"Ten ninjas standing by launched their attack as planned."
"And? The progress?"
"It was a one-sided massacre. Our ninjas didn't even manage to touch the enemy."
"And so, this does suggest..."
Hanzo grimaced,
"...that Akashi of the 'Red Blade' did defeat Kakuzu and Shimura Danzo."
It was the right decision to act now, Hanzo thought.
"A level of high jonin or potentially, above that... at the approximate age of 16 or so."
Hanzo couldn't help but frown.
"Just where did a boy like this appear from? Within this accursed country that lacks of talented individuals?"
The name of Red Blade was spreading, even though he wasn't even the official ninja of Ame. Of course, it was only natural after the deaths of Kakuzu and Danzo, but still.
Hanzo was a paranoid man. Or to be more specific, he's become one as his thoughts about war and peace changed.
He was the Amegakure. Amegakure standing firm meant that Hanzo stood firm. If there was any threat to his strength, his authority, and his name, then it was a threat to Amegakure.
And right now, in the middle of the Third Shinobi World War, Hanzo concluded that Akashi of the Red Blade was the most threatening above all.
"..."
Hanzo raised his hand, as his eyes once again focused on the distant house.
Then, he clenched it.
After, there was a loud explosion, one that blew up said house in an instant.
__________
BOOM!
There was a noise that echoed into Akashi's ears as he dashed through the woods at his maximum speed.
Akashi's eye widened. Gritting his teeth, he jumped from branch to branch, and the surroundings appeared as nothing but a blur due to the speed.
And it wasn't long. Eventually, he found his way back to the house—only to see the ruins of it, covered by steam and smoke.
"KONAN!!"
Unable to mask his panic, Akashi shouted.
"Are you looking for her?"
And Akashi heard.
Turning his head up, Akashi saw—the unconscious and injured state of Konan who was lifted by the back of her shirt.
And the one who lifted Konan was someone whom Akashi recognized very well.
Hanzo. He stood with numerous ninjas. Akashi assumed that there were more than fifty of them.
"..."
There was an overlap of an image. Akashi recalled in the long past when he saw Hanzo invading the camp of Konohagakure ninjas.
And Hanzo too—he for some reason remembered, that one kid who ran away during the times of the Second Shinobi World War, the blue-eyed boy who momentarily got his attention.
Hanzo couldn't help but frown as he felt Akashi's cold glare on him.
"...What is it that you want."
Finally, Akashi spoke in a hoarse voice.
Konan was kept alive, meaning that Hanzo was wishing for a negotiation of some sort.
Hanzo snorted at that,
"How about this? If you kill yourself, I will release her, safe and sound."
Outnumbered and facing Hanzo of everyone, there was no chance of victory for Akashi—at least from Hanzo's perspective.
He believed that in this case, he could pressure Akashi into such an act. He called it a tactic. Everything was under his plan.
"Fine."
What he didn't expect, however, was for Akashi to immediately stab himself in the chest without any hesitation, for it was an act that someone as self-preserving as Hanzo couldn't understand.
And it wasn't just him; every other Ame's ninja on the spot witnessed the scene in shock.
Then, within this brief moment of surprise, 'Akashi' exploded—and instead of blowing force, there was a brilliant light, one that blinded them for a split second.
And in this period of time that Akashi managed to buy, he swiftly moved from the back.
By the time the light faded and Hanzo realized, Konan was gone from his hold, and the only thing he held was a piece of cloth.
"You...!"
Akashi, now standing far away from them as he bridal-carried Konan in his arms, gritted his teeth before he began to dash out.
Hanzo was left dumbfounded for a moment before he growled,
"...Chase him! We mustn't allow that man to get away!"